25/04: Costa Mesa to Ventura
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
Today's drive is going to take us thru Los Angeles so there was some debate about the highway versus the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and when would be the best time to do the drive. Ed decided that we are driving the Pacific Coast Highway then we should stay on the PCH --- route decided. Rush hour would hopefully be over by 11 am so that should be a good time to start across LA.
Huntington Beach is the first town north of Newport Beach (where our drive on the PCH began today). Huntington Beach is well known for it's beaches and great surfing. Instead of exploring the beaches, Ed and I stopped at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. The reserve has managed to survive with housing developments encroaching from one side and oil wells on the other side.
There were lots of birds (mostly gulls, terns, egrets and ducks). This egret co-operated nicely.
As we drove north to Long Beach we spotted this unusual looking RAV.
I think it's a 1999 2-door convertible Rav4.
This road in Long Beach had a traffic light at every intersection --- luckily they seemed to be timed so you were able to get through a number of them before hitting a red light.
We stopped to take a look at the Russian sub and the Queen Mary while we were in Long Beach. We didn't tour either ship as we neither of us were interested enough to spend $29/person. I guess you can call us cheap but we like to think that we are spending our money wisely.
We drove past the docks, Redonda Beach, Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles Internation Airport (the PCH went under a runway), Marina Del Rey and finally reached Santa Monica. The drive wasn't too bad --- one spot where one lane was closed took awhile to get by and it was really busy (and slow) by the airport. Santa Monica was a bit disappointing --- is wasn't the place but the weather. The wind was blowing the sand so hard that the visibilty was very poor plus it felt like your legs were being sand blasted and Ed complained about the sand hurting his eyes.
Ed took a few photos then we continued driving north.
The drive through Malibu was interesting. One side of the road are houses built on the side of the cliffs and the other side of the road are houses (that almost touch each other) built on the edge of the ocean. At the edge of this drive is the Malibu Lagoon State Beach.
Looking back at the Malibu pier and the PCH.
Lots of terns, gulls and pelicans.
The PHC turned inland passing a thru an agricultural area.
Now I know where a lot of the California strawberries come from.
We wandered the downtown area of Ventura. It's a interesting downtown with a lot of restaurants, a number of antique stores, at least 5 thrift shops, boutiques and of course
a mission. Mission San Buenaventura is known as the Mission by the Sea
Standing by city hall looking toward the ocean. That's ocean you can see between the two smallest trees in the phto.
Venture has a long pier, a beautful promenade and a rocky beach.
Huntington Beach is the first town north of Newport Beach (where our drive on the PCH began today). Huntington Beach is well known for it's beaches and great surfing. Instead of exploring the beaches, Ed and I stopped at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. The reserve has managed to survive with housing developments encroaching from one side and oil wells on the other side.
There were lots of birds (mostly gulls, terns, egrets and ducks). This egret co-operated nicely.
As we drove north to Long Beach we spotted this unusual looking RAV.
I think it's a 1999 2-door convertible Rav4.
This road in Long Beach had a traffic light at every intersection --- luckily they seemed to be timed so you were able to get through a number of them before hitting a red light.
We stopped to take a look at the Russian sub and the Queen Mary while we were in Long Beach. We didn't tour either ship as we neither of us were interested enough to spend $29/person. I guess you can call us cheap but we like to think that we are spending our money wisely.
We drove past the docks, Redonda Beach, Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles Internation Airport (the PCH went under a runway), Marina Del Rey and finally reached Santa Monica. The drive wasn't too bad --- one spot where one lane was closed took awhile to get by and it was really busy (and slow) by the airport. Santa Monica was a bit disappointing --- is wasn't the place but the weather. The wind was blowing the sand so hard that the visibilty was very poor plus it felt like your legs were being sand blasted and Ed complained about the sand hurting his eyes.
Ed took a few photos then we continued driving north.
The drive through Malibu was interesting. One side of the road are houses built on the side of the cliffs and the other side of the road are houses (that almost touch each other) built on the edge of the ocean. At the edge of this drive is the Malibu Lagoon State Beach.
Looking back at the Malibu pier and the PCH.
Lots of terns, gulls and pelicans.
The PHC turned inland passing a thru an agricultural area.
Now I know where a lot of the California strawberries come from.
We wandered the downtown area of Ventura. It's a interesting downtown with a lot of restaurants, a number of antique stores, at least 5 thrift shops, boutiques and of course
a mission. Mission San Buenaventura is known as the Mission by the Sea
Standing by city hall looking toward the ocean. That's ocean you can see between the two smallest trees in the phto.
Venture has a long pier, a beautful promenade and a rocky beach.